Conventional fishing reels are generally of two types. The "free spool" type has the fishing line wound upon a spool which rotates freely and which is driven by a gear arrangement connected between the handle of the fishing reel and the spool. A retarding drag or braking must be applied to the line spool as the line is thrown outward to reduce the momentum of the spool and prevent backlash of line as it unwinds from the spool. The "spinning" type fishing reel generally includes a spool which is fixed in a frame of the fishing reel and around which a pickup drum rotates for winding the fishing line on the spool. A gear arrangement is connected between the handle and the rotating pickup drum for rotating the drum as the handle is manually rotated.
In both types of conventional fishing reels, the speed at which line can be taken up or wound upon the spool is limited by the particular gear arrangement connected between the handle and line winding means. Normally, a large drive gear is connected to the handle which meshes with a smaller driven gear connected to the line winding means. As the very large gear rotates one time the smaller driven gear will rotate a number of times, such as three or four. Thus, the takeup ratio or gear ratio of the reel is about three or four to one. The takeup ratio is limited to the size of gear that can be utilized as a drive gear without enlarging the size and weight of the fishing reel beyond impractical limits.
In addition, the particular takeup ratio that is desirable for a particular fishing reel depends upon the purposes and applications for which the reel is used. Some types of fishing require a very fast retrieve or taking up of the fishing line such as artificial bait casting, while other types of fishing may require much slower retrieval speeds and hence a smaller gear or takeup ratio.
Prior fishing reels have been proposed which utilize a mechanical gear drive arrangement for providing a variable takeup ratio. However, such arrangements have included a very large number of gears producing rather complicated and sophisticated mechanisms resulting in an unwieldy, costly and impractical device.
Canadian Patent No. 717,384 discloses a fishing reel which utilizes hydraulics in the braking mechanism to provide an adjustable retarding drag mechanism to the line spool. However, the device utilizes a conventional mechanical arrangement for winding line upon the spool.